House of Lords is one of the two houses of Parliament, the lawmaking body of the United Kingdom. The other is the House of Commons, the more powerful of the two houses. The main function of the House of Lords is to review bills passed by the House of Commons. The Lords may introduce or propose amendments to nonfinancial bills, but they cannot veto a bill and rarely change a bill’s basic principles. Until 2009, the House of Lords was also the United Kingdom’s highest court of appeals.
The House of Lords usually has more than 700 members, but the number fluctuates with leaves of absence, suspensions, and disqualifications. Ninety-two members are hereditary peers, drawn from nobles who inherited their titles. More than 600 are life peers, who are nominated by the prime minister. The lords spiritual are 26 bishops of the Church of England.
Parliament was divided into the House of Lords and the House of Commons during the 1300’s. The houses had nearly equal power until 1832, when a reform act took away some of the power of the House of Lords. The Parliamentary Acts of 1911 and 1949 further limited the veto powers of the House of Lords. A 1945 pact known as the Salisbury Convention stated that the Lords should not seek to delay or oppose a bill promised in a winning political party’s election campaign.
In 1999, legislation abolished the right of hereditary peers to inherit a seat in the House of Lords along with their title. Ninety-two hereditary peers were allowed to continue serving until further reform was completed. Two of them hold appointed royal offices. The other ninety were elected to serve by other hereditary peers or by the House of Lords as a whole.
On Oct. 1, 2009, the Supreme Court replaced the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords as the highest court in the United Kingdom.
